A passion for artisan baking, and homemade jams in Morristown

Sep. 6, 2013

Written by

Tricia Vanderhoof

For the Daily Record

IF YOU GO

THE ARTIST BAKER: 14-16 Cattano Avenue, Morristown; 973-267-5540; www.theartistbaker.comAndrea Lekberg is a participating chef at the fifth annual Morris County Sunday Supper Series on Sept. 22 at the Hyatt Morristown. The dinner celebrates the local food movement. Learn more at SustainableMorristown.org

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Editor’s note: This story is part of a series exploring Morris area restaurants embracing Jersey terroir by either growing their own produce or forging relationships with local farmers. Today, we feature The Artist Baker, a Morristown bakery where the treats are always handmade and often showcase local ingredients.

Owner/chef Andrea Lekberg, a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, laughs when she says, “As an artist I had to also learn to do something that would support me. I did go to a school for cooking — a trade school, because cooking wasn’t considered ‘artisan’ at the time.”

From years of baking and cooking professionally and at home, Lekberg learned the importance of educating customers about the association between chef, local sustainable farming, and seasonal food: “I want food to taste like the area it grows.”

She opened The Artist Baker in Morristown on Valentine’s Day 2009, carrying on traditions learned in the kitchens of her mother and grandmothers. Lekberg not only has many of Grandma Lekberg’s recipes, but diagrams of how to properly place pans in the oven. Her plum tarts are made as Grandma Tory showed her.

“Those were my favorite, made with her homemade wild plum jelly.”

Heritage in a jar

Lekberg calls her own pickles and preserves “heritage in a jar” and serves them with lunch. Her display cases are filled with luscious treats, muffins and organic breads.

“Everything came in later this year because of the cold spring, but I’ve got baby carrot spring preserves and carrot-top pesto,” she says. “The taste of the earth, it’s hard to seize the moment. New Jersey doesn’t have such a long season so it’s a little more difficult.”

Lekberg works with several organic farms including Blooming Hill Farm in Blooming Grove, New York. For the second year, she was part of a vegetarian dinner held there.

“It’s such a great challenge. My friend Marc Cantu is Mario Batali’s operations guy and he’s in a wine group I’m in. Marc is from Mexico so this year it was garden-to-table with a Mexican flair — a posole (Mexican stew) using his vegetables cooked on-premises at the farm with biscuits in Blooming Hill’s outdoor oven.”

She sources locally. Rhubarb is from Harding and she works with groups like Grow it Green Morristown, the award-winning agricultural teaching garden and advocate for sustainable communities.

“They give me a call, and some of my customers also bring me stuff — everyone always has extra,” Lekberg says. “This has become my community. I’ve met so many who have the same sensibility.”

Behind the restaurant are wooden stands with pots of herbs Lekberg cultivates for use in the restaurant.

She explains that as we get older, our taste buds — as do our tastes — change. “We take advantage of that here and feature lesser-known ingredients. Some things remind people of their childhood. Our philosophy is to stay relevant but also combine that with childhood experience.”

Lekberg feels that New Jersey has every resource to provide the richest of food experiences, “And we’re the ones who are local, we’re the ones who are interested in making that happen.”